The Berkeley River is a river in the

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia * Kimberley (Western Australia) ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Kimberley * Kimberley Warm Springs, Tasmania * Kimberley, Tasmania a small town * County of Kimberley, a ...

region of

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. The river flows for 135 km to the

Timor Sea The Timor Sea ( id, Laut Timor, pt, Mar de Timor, tet, Tasi Mane or ) is a relatively shallow sea bounded to the north by the island of Timor, to the east by the Arafura Sea, and to the south by Australia. The sea contains a number of reefs, ...

via the

Joseph Bonaparte Gulf Joseph Bonaparte Gulf is a large body of water off the coast of the Northern Territory and Western Australia and part of the Timor Sea. It was named after Joseph Bonaparte, brother of Napoleon and King of Naples (1806-1808) and then Spain (1808 ...

near Reveley Island and Cape St Lambert. The river rises from the Tadrida Scarp and flows in a north-easterly direction through the

Drysdale River National Park Drysdale River National Park is a national park in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, northeast of Perth. The park lies about south of Kalumburu and west of Wyndham. The park is the largest and least accessible in the Kimberley, w ...

and the Oombulgarri Indigenous Reserve before discharging into the Timor Sea. The river has two

tributaries A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage b ...

, the De Lancourt River and Casuarina Creek. The

traditional owners Native title is the designation given to the common law doctrine of Aboriginal title in Australia, which is the recognition by Australian law that Indigenous Australians (both Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander people) have rights ...

of the areas around the river are the

Miwa people The Miwa are an indigenous Australian people of the Kimberley region of Western Australia. Name 'Miwa' in this area of the Kimberley region is used in the sense of 'salt water/sea', indicating peoples near or on the coast. Three different group ...

. The river was named in 1911 by the explorer

Charles Price Conigrave Charles Price Conigrave (1882–1961) was a West Australian zoölogist, author and explorer. He led the Kimberley Exploring Expedition of 1911, making collections of flora and fauna, and mapping the region between Cambridge Gulf and Napier Broo ...

. He named the river after his brother Berkeley Fairfax Conigrave. It is regularly visited by Ocean Dream Charters while on Kimberley coastal cruises.

References

{{Rivers of Western Australia Rivers of the Kimberley region of Western Australia